Other Sports

This page is about sports that don't have their own dedicated pages.

Archery

Colour of the central zone on the target (two rings – inner & outer)		Gold
Points for an outer gold		9
Points for an inner gold		10
The notch at the end of the shaft of an arrow (into which the string fits)		Nock

Highest standard

Grand Master Bowman

Badminton

Height of the net	At the ends		5' 1" (1.55 metres)
	In the middle		5 feet (1.524 metres)
Points to win a game			15
Number of feathers in the shuttlecock			16

Baseball

Number of umpires		4
Maximum number of games played in the above		7
Number of innings per side		9
Distance between consecutive bases		30 yards
Always has first innings		Away side
Fielder who squats behind the batter – the equivalent of the wicket–keeper in cricket		Catcher
Play in which two runners are put out		Double play
(Ironic) name for a pitch that the batter misses, or fails to hit into the field of play		Strike
A player who bats both right–handed and left–handed (usually right–handed against left–handed pitchers, and vice versa); see also cricket		Switch hitter
Base–on–balls (BB) – batter advances to 1st base after receiving 4 legal balls: commonly known as a		Walk
Annual decider (since 1903) between the winners of the National and American Leagues		World Series

Teams

Team some of whose players accepted bribes to lose the 1921 World Series final		Boston White Sox
Won the World Series in 2004, for the first time since 1918 – a "drought" blamed by superstition on a curse following the sale of Babe Ruth to the New York Yankees in 1919		Boston Red Sox
Fenway Park – known as the Cathedral of Baseball – is the home of
Beat the 'Curse of the Billy Goat' to win the World Series in 2016, for the first time since 1908		Chicago Cubs
Wrigley Field (named after the founder of the chewing gum company) is the home of
William A. Shea Municipal Stadium, which hosted the first major stadium concert when the Beatles opened their second US tour there (in 1965) was home to		New York Mets
Most World Series wins (27, up to and including 2021 – last in 2009)		New York Yankees
Babe Ruth's club, for most of his career (1920–34), and Joe Di Maggio's only one (1936–51)
Second to the above in number of World Series wins (11, up to and including 2021 – last in 2011)		St. Louis Cardinals
The only major league baseball team from outside the USA; won the World Series in 1992 and 1993		Toronto Blue Jays

Players

Holds the record for the longest hitting streak (at least one base hit – reaching at least first base – per game) – 56 in 1941; played for New York Yankees throughout his career (1936–42, 1946–51)		Joe DiMaggio
Set a new record for the number of home runs in a career, in 1998		Mark McGwire
First black player (Brooklyn Dodgers 1947–56)		Jackie Robinson
Considered by many to be the greatest baseball player of all time: played for Boston Red Sox 1914–19, New York Yankees 1920–34, Baltimore Braves 1935		Babe Ruth

Basketball

Points for a basket, if thrown from inside the arc (6.25m in international games, 23' 9" in NBA)		2
Points for a basket, if thrown from outside the arc		3
Points for scoring from a free throw		1
Height of the hoop		10 feet
Diameter of the hoop		18 inches
Running with the ball, without dribbling (a violation)		Traveling
Restart after a stoppage when no offence was committed: referee throws the ball up between two opposing players (also used at the start of the game or tip–off)		Jump ball
Jumping into the air and pushing the ball down into the basket (2 points)		Slam dunk
Boston Celtics, 1979–92: gave his name to the Twitter logo		Larry Bird
Harlem Globetrotters 1958–9, Philadelphia / San Francisco Warriors 1959–65, Philadelphia 76ers 1965–8, LA Lakers 1968–73: appeared as the antagonist in the 1984 Arnold Schwarzenegger film Conan the Destroyer, and claimed to have had sex with 20,000 women: set an NBA career points record that stood for 11 years before being broken by Kareem Abdul–Jabbar in 1983–3		Wilt Chamberlain
Cleveland Cavaliers 2003–10 and 2014–18, Miami Heat 2010–14, LA Lakers from 2018: surpassed Kareem Abdul–Jabbar's record (set in the 1987–8 season) in 2022–3, to become the highest career points scorer in NBA history		LeBron James
LA Lakers, 1979–91 and 1995–6: retired in 1991, aged 32, after testing positive for HIV, returning four years later for one season		Earvin 'Magic' Johnson
"The greatest basketball player of all time" (according to the NBA website): wore No. 23 for Chicago Bulls, 1984–93 and 1995–98; nicknamed Air (Nike named a shoe after him)		Michael Jordan
Founded in Chicago (sic), 1927, by Abraham Saperstein; theme tune Sweet Georgia Brown; famous players include Goose Tatum, Meadowlark Lemon, Curly Neal		Harlem Globetrotters
'Stooges' to the above: booed in 1971 when they won a game		Washington Generals
Nickname of the New Zealand men's basketball team		Tall Blacks

Billiards

Yes, it's a sport.  See Darts.

Deliberately potting your opponent's cue ball (considered to be unsporting)		Whitechapel
Hitting both other balls (your opponent's cue ball and the red ball) with your cue ball		Cannon
Points for potting the red or going in off the red (i.e. if the red was hit first)		3
Points for a cannon, going in off your opponent's cue ball, or potting your opponent's cue ball		2

Croquet

Number of hoops			6
Number of balls used in a game			4
Colour of the balls	One team		Blue
			Black
	The other team		Red
			Yellow
A shot where the player's ball hits another ball			Roquet
The shot that follows a roquet (where the player's ball is placed next to the ball that it hit, allowing the player to move both balls)			Croquet

Equestrian Sports

The three disciplines in three–day eventing are (in competition order):

Dressage

Cross country

Show jumping

Wikipedia tells us that three–day eventing "is more commonly now run over four days, with dressage on the first two days followed by cross country the next day and then show jumping in reverse order on the final day."

Faults for a refusal (previously 3)			4
Faults for knocking a fence down			4
Faults if the rider falls off			8
Penalty for two refusals (previously three)			Elimination
Event with specially high and wide fences			Puissance
Two riders who have won the World Championships twice	(West Germany – 1954, 1955)		Hans Gunter Winkler
	(Italy – 1956, 1960)		Raimondo D'Inzeo
New Zealand eventer: won Olympic golds in 1984 and 1988 (riding Charisma), team silver in 1992, and bronzes in 1988, 2000 and 2012; voted Rider of the 20th century by the International Federation for Equestrian Sports			Mark Todd
2006: Zara Phillips won the European and World Three Day Eventing championships on			Toytown
Won the King George V Gold Cup at the Royal International Horse show on Foxhunter in 1948, 1950 & 1953			Col. Harry Llewellyn
British show jumper, gave his name to the two–fingered gesture that he made at Hickstead in 1971			Harvey Smith

Fencing

The three disciplines are (in alphabetical order):

Epée

Foil

Sabre

Parts of the body that are valid as targets:

Epée		Anywhere
Foil		Torso
Sabre		Anywhere above the waist, except the weapon hand

More correct term for the 'strip' on which a bout takes place		Piste
The basic defensive technique: blocking the opponent's weapon when he or she is attacking		Parry
A counterattack, made immediately after a successful parry		Riposte

Greyhound Racing

Jacket Colours

Note that these are the colours used in Europe, including the UK and Ireland. Different colours are used elsewhere (notably in the USA, Australia and New Zealand).

1		Red	2		Blue	5		White
4		Black	3		Orange	6		Black & white

At one time, eight traps were used. (They still are in the USA, Australia and New Zealand.) I've never been asked about traps 7 and 8 in a quiz, but for completeness, the colours were:

7

Green & yellow stripes

8

Red & white chequered squares

The Greyhound Derby

First held (year)		1927
Venue from inception to 1984		White City
... except in 1940, when it was held at		Harringay

The Greyhound Derby was not held between 1941 and 1944 (inclusive).

Venue from 1985 to 2016		Wimbledon
Venue from 2017 – scheduled until 2021		Towcester
Current distance		500 metres

At Wimbledon the distance was 480 metres. At White City it was 500 metres from 1975, previous to which it was 525 yards – except in the very first year when it was 500 yards.

Other

Number of dogs in a race in the USA, Australia and New Zealand		8
Won 32 consecutive races, from 25 August 1984 to 9 December 1986		Ballyregan Bob
Perfected by Owen Smith in 1919		Mechanical hare
First to win the Greyhound Derby twice (1929–30); credited with inspiring the great increase in the popularity of greyhound racing at that time; body stuffed after death and displayed in the Natural History Museum – now in its Tring, Hertfordshire site (along with many other stuffed animals)		Mick the Miller

Gymnastics

Men's events

	Floor		Vault		Parallel bars
	High bar		Pommel horse		Still rings

Women's events

	Floor		Vault
	Asymmetric (uneven) bars		Balance beam

Common events

The two events that are common to both men's and women's gymnastics are:

Floor exercises

Vault

Points deducted

For small errors		0.1
For medium errors		0.3
For large errors		0.5
For falling off		1.0

Gymnasts

American gymnast, hailed as the greatest of all time when taking four golds and a bronze at the Rio Olympics (2016); in 2019 she became the most decorated gymnast in World Championships history, with 19 career golds		Simone Biles
Romanian gymnast: awarded seven perfect scores of 10.0 at the Montreal Olympics in 1976, when aged 14 (building on the interest generated by the following entry)		Nadia Comaneci
Won Britain's first ever gold medal on the parallel bars, at the World Championships of 2019		Joe Fraser
Russian gymnast: won three World and three European All–Round titles between 1997 and 2003; an Uneven Bars specialist, she won six World, four European, two Olympic and three Goodwill golds in this event, 1994–2004 (these were her only Olympic golds; her best all–round result was silver in 2004)		Svetlana Khorkina
Soviet gymnast: widely credited as redefining the sport, shifting the emphasis from ballet–style elegance to acrobatics and technique, and with turning it into a popular spectator sport; won three gold medals at the 1972 Munich Olympics (and a fourth at Montreal in 1976)		Olga Korbut
The first British gymnast to win medals at three Olympiads: bronze in Beijing, and silver at London and Rio (all on the pommel horse); also team bronze in London		Louis Smith
Britain's first ever world champion (uneven bars 2006 and 2010, floor 2009)		Beth Tweddle
Britain's first ever men's world champion (pommel horse, 2015); also won two gold medals (pommel horse and floor exercises) at the 2016 Olympics		Max Whitlock

Hockey

Known in some parts as Field Hockey. For Ice Hockey, see Winter Sports.

Start of a game		Bully–off
Width of the goal		12 feet
Star striker of Britain's men's hockey team of the 1980s – scored 7 goals in the 1984 Olympics, and 8 in 1988 (including a hat trick against Australia in the semi–final) when Britain's team won the gold medal; also Britain's top scorer in 1992		Sean Kerly

Ironman

Ironman events are organised by the World Triathlon Corporation.

Swimming distance		2.4 miles (3.86 km)
Cycling distance		112 miles (180.25 km)
Running distance		26.22 miles (42.20 km)

The running distance is rounded up from the normal Marathon distance, which is 26.21875 miles.

Maximum time allowed to complete the course (to be designated an Ironman)

17 hours

British triathlete: won the Ironman World Championship in three consecutive years (2007–9), missed the 2010 event through illness, but won again in 2011

Chrissie Wellington

Netball

Height of the net		10 feet
Time for which a player can hold the ball, before passing or shooting		3 seconds
Players who can score		Goal Shooter (GS)
		Goal Attack (GA)
Defends against the Goal Shooter		Goal Keeper (GK)
Defends against Goal Attack		Goal Defence (GD)
Can move in the attacking and centre thirds, but not in the shooting circle		Wing Attack (WA)
Can move in the defending and centre thirds, but not in the shooting circle		Wing Defence (WD)
Can move anywhere but in the shooting circles		Centre (C)
Games are started (and restarted after a goal) with a		Centre pass

England coach, 2015–19 – leading them to gold in the 2018 Commonwealth Games and bronze in the 2019 World Cup

Tracey Neville

Squash

Shot that hits the side wall before hitting the front wall		Boast
The lower part of the front wall (up to 48cm, 18.9") – made of a different material (often metal) so that it makes a distinctive sound when hit by the ball		Tin

Anglo–Irish player, born 1941: won the British Open (effectively the world championship in those days) six times between 1967 and 1973		Jonah Barrington
Australian, b. 1947; World No. 1 1975–80, British Open champion 8 times, 1969–81; World Open champion in its first four years (1976–80)		Geoff Hunt
Probably the best squash player ever: Pakistani, b. 1963; World Open champion 1981–6 and 1988; British Open champion in 10 consecutive years, 1982–91; unbeaten in 555 competitive matches, 1981–6		Jahangir Khan
Pakistani, b. 1952; British Open champion 1975, runner–up to Hunt in 3 World and 3 British Opens; runner–up to Jahangir in 1 World and 1 British Open		Qamar Zaman

Sumo

Name of the 'ring'		Dojo
Major tournament		Basho
Highest ranking ('grand champion')		Yokozuna

Swimming

Medleys

Order of strokes in the Individual Medley:

Butterfly

Backstroke

Breaststroke

Freestyle

Order of strokes in the Medley Relay:

Backstroke

Breaststroke

Butterfly

Freestyle

Difference: the butterfly is first in the individual medley but third in the relay. The other three strokes (backstroke, breaststroke and freestyle) are in alphabetical order in both.

Backstroke has to be first in the relay because you can't really start it by diving into the pool.

Other

Oldest stroke in competitive swimming		Breast stroke
Stroke first recognised for competition in 1953		Butterfly
Length of an Olympic pool		50 metres
Number of lanes in an Olympic pool		8
Longest (individual?) freestyle event		1500m
East German swimmer: 8 Olympic medals 1972–6, including 4 golds in '76, and 10 World Championship medals 1973 and 1975		Kornelia Ender
Australian swimmer: daughter of a Scottish footballer; won 3 100m freestyle Olympic golds, 1956–64; 27 individual world records; 59.9 secs, 27 Oct 1962		Dawn Fraser
First Briton to swim the 100m breaststroke in less than one minute (1987)		Adrian Moorhouse
As of April 2020, has broken the world 100m breaststroke record 5 times and the 50m record 4 times, and has held both since 2015		Adam Peaty
First to swim 100m in one minute or 400m in five minutes		Johnny Weissmuller

Table Tennis

Dimensions of the table		9 feet by 5 feet
Height of the net, above the table		6 inches (15.25 cm)
Before celluloid, the balls were made from		Cork
Five times runner–up in the world championships		Ann Haydon–Jones
Hungarian world singles and doubles champion 1932–5; total 5 singles, 8 men's doubles, 2 mixed doubles		Viktor Barna

Tenpin Bowling

Length of the lane		60 feet
Maximum weight of the ball		16 lbs
Knocking all 10 pins down with the first delivery		Strike
Knocking all 10 pins down with two deliveries		Spare
Each player's "turn" of two deliveries (or one if (s)he scores a Strike)		Frame
Three strikes in a row		Turkey
Number of frames (for each player) in a game		10
Highest possible score (in the 'perfect game')		300
Number of balls bowled (or strikes hit) to score 300		12

Volleyball

A team can hit the ball (before passing it over the net)		3 times
Each team's first touch of the ball: a pass to the "setter"		Bump
Second touch: aiming for the attacker		Set
Third touch: the attacker aims to hit the ball down into the opponents' court (equivalent to a smash in tennis)		Spike
Player with specialised defensive skills, can replace any back–row player during a game (position introduced internationally 1998). Italian term, also used in football for a sweeper		Libero

Winter Sports

Competition where one or two people lie feet–first, face up (supine) on a sled; name derives from a French word, meaning a small coasting sled		Luge
Competition where one person lies head–first, face down (prone) on a sled; used on the Cresta Run		Skeleton
Church Leap; Curzon, Brabazon, Thoma; Battledore, Shuttlecock; Scylla, Charybdis: corners or features of the		Cresta Run
Swiss winter resort: home of the Cresta run		St. Moritz

Bobsleigh

Last man

Brakeman

Curling

The captain is referred to as		Skip
Rock that the stones are (usually) made from		Granite
The target area is referred to as the		House
The circle at the centre of the 'house' (16 feet from the backboard)		Button
The line through the 'button', drawn parallel to the backboard		Tee line
The line drawn parallel to the backboard and 37 feet from it, which stones must cross in order to count		Hog line
The last stone in each end – and the advantage that this gives		Hammer

Ice Dancing

The UK's last world champions before Torvill and Dean (4 times, 1966–9)		Diane Towler
		Bernard Ford
Torvill & Dean's coach		Betty Calloway

Ice Hockey

Start of a game		Face–off
Pucks are made of		(Vulcanised) rubber
Equivalent of a goalkeeper		Netminder
Canadian ice hockey legend, 1928–2016: gave his name to the 'hat–trick' of a goal, an assist and a fight in the same game		Gordon 'Gordie' Howe
Played for Edmonton Oilers 1978–88, Los Angeles Kings 1988–96; won the Art Ross Trophy (awarded annually to the highest points scorer) seven consecutive times, 1981–7, and ten times in total 1981–94		Wayne Gretzky
Country that has won 9 out of 24 men's Olympic golds, and 4 out of 6 women's (up to and including 2018)		Canada

Ice Skating

First section of a competition		Compulsory figures
Number of turns in a double Axel		Two and a half
East German ice skater: won 6 European, 4 World and 2 Olympic titles, 1982–8; also won an Emmy for the film Carmen on Ice		Katerina Witt

Skiing

The Vasaloppet (literally, the Vasa Race) – the world's oldest, longest, and biggest (in terms of participants) cross–country ski race – is held annually, on the first Sunday of March, in		Sweden
Five times Overall British Senior Champion, 2002–8; named (apparently) after Jimena, wife of El Cid (as played by Sophia Loren in the 1961 film)		Chimene 'Chemmy' Alcott
Represented Great Britain at five Winter Olympics, 1984–98 (four of them along with his brother Martin); went on to a career in sports broadcasting, inclding Ski Sunday		Graham Bell
French skier: dominated the sport in the late 1960s, winning all three Alpine events at the 1968 Winter Olympics (Grenoble)		Jean–Claude Killy
Austrian skier: won 25 World Cup downhills, dominating the event from 1975 to 1978. Gold medalist at the 1976 Winter Olympics (Innsbruck)		Franz Klammer
Austrian skier: won 62 World Cup events, 1970–80 – a record only broken in 2016, by Lindsey Vonn – winning the overall title 6 times, including 5 years in a row 1971–5		Annemarie Moser–Pröll
Lancashire–born winner of Britain's first World Cup gold medal in alpine skiing (Kitzbuhel slalom, 2022)		Dave Ryding
American skier who broke Ingemar Stenmark's long–standing record in March 2023 with her 87th career victory in a World Cup race – having broken the women's record, set in 2019 by her compatriot Lindsey Vonn, two months earlier		Mikaela Shiffrin
Swedish skier, regarded as the greatest slalom and giant slalom specialist of all time; won a record 86 World Cup events, 1975–89; won both events at the 1980 winter Olympics (Lake Placid); banned from the 1984 Olympics for accepting promotional payments; allowed back in 1988, but was past his prime and "did not medal"		Ingemar Stenmark
American skier: passed Annemarie Moser–Pröll's record of 62 women's World Cup victories in 2016; retired in 2019 with 82 wins (see Mikaela Shiffrin)		Lindsey Vonn

Piste grades (European) – in ascending order of difficulty:

Green

Blue

Red

Black

Speed Skating

British short track speed skater: won two gold medals at the 1988 Winter Olympics when short track speed skating was a demonstration sport; World Champion 1991

Wilf O'Reilly

Yachting

Races (etc.)

Held annually 1925–33, subsequently every two years (except for a break during WWII), from Cowes (Isle of Wight) to the eponymous rock off the south of Ireland, and back to Plymouth; was the last race in the Admirals' Cup, while that event was held (1957–99, and 2003). 15 competitors died in the 1979 race; Simon le Bon and his crew were rescued by the Royal Navy after his yacht Drum capsized in 1985		Fastnet Race
Won by Robin Knox–Johnston and Peter Blake in 1994, for sailing around the world in a new record time (75 days)		Jules Verne Trophy
Famous race that starts on Boxing Day each year (since 1945): the course is about 630 miles, and normally takes about 3 days; the record time was 1 day, 18 hrs, 23 mins and 12 secs, in 2012; the longest winning time was 4/11:53:27, in 1946; the 2015 time was 4/07:27:13; won in 1969 by Edward Heath in the original Morning Cloud		Sydney to Hobart
Round–the–world single–handed (solo) yacht race, sailed non–stop and without assistance; founded by Philippe Jeantot in 1989, and held every four years since 1992; named after the département in France in which it starts and ends		Vendée Globe

People

British–born businessman: led the syndicate that won the America's Cup for Australia in 1983 – the first time it had been taken from the New York Yacht Club; later served 4 years in prison after being convicted of fraud in 1997		Alan Bond
America's Cup: winning skipper of Stars & Stripes (1989)		Dennis Conner
1990 Whitbread Round–the–World Race: Maiden (all–woman crew): skipper		Tracy Edwards

Other

Letter that identifies British boats		K
Sailing into the wind		Beating
Sailing before the wind		Running
Sailing a zig–zag course into the wind		Tacking
Landlocked country that won the America's Cup in 2003		Switzerland
Ellen MacArthur's boat on her 2000–1 solo circumnavigation		Kingfisher
The Royal Yacht Squadron is based at		Cowes
Title usually given to the president of a yacht club (also a senior rank in the Royal Navy)		Commodore

Miscellaneous

Event that takes place annually, in April or May, at the Gloucestershire estate of the Duke of Beaufort

Badminton Horse Trials

Australian Rules Football: start of a game			Bounce
Australian Rules Football: kicking between the inner (goal) and outer (behind) posts – scores one point (a goal scores 6)			Behind
Biathlon: the two sports involved			Cross–country skiing
			Rifle shooting
Bowls (Crown Green): minimum distance the jack must be bowled			19 metres
Croquet: number of hoops (sometimes known as 'wickets' in the USA), in the Association game (the most advanced version, played up to international level)			6
Diving: Olympic heights	Springboard		3 metres
	High diving board		10 metres
Diving: Britain's 15–year–old world 10–metre champion, 2009			Tom Daley
Gymnastics: South–African born British gymnast, Britain's first gymnastics world champion and the most decorated British gymnast ever – European and World champion on the uneven bars, 2006			Beth Tweddle
Harness racing (a.k.a. trotting): name of the cart			Sulky
Hurling: name used for the stick			Hurley
Hurling: name of the ball (also used in shinty, camogie and rounders)			Sliot(h)ar

Judo: highest grade		12th Dan
Judo: traditional garment		Judogi
Judo: a throw that wins the contest by placing the opponent on his or her back, with impetus and control		Ippon

Karate: the colour of belt immediately below black (same as in judo!)			Brown
Kayaking: the alternative (less PC) name for a kayak roll – used to right a capsized kayak using body motion and/or a paddle			Eskimo roll
Polo: width of the goal			8 yards
Polo: name given to the periods of play (usually six, each of 7 minutes plus up to 30 seconds) into which a game is divided			Chukkas or chukkers
Polo: teams change ends			After every goal
Pool (eight–ball and straight): number of balls, including the cue ball			16
Pool (eight–ball): colour of the solid number 1 ball and the striped number 9 ball (ignoring spots, stripes and numbers)			Yellow
Real Tennis: name given to the the sloping roof that runs round three sides of the court			Penthouse
Sailing: the technique of following a zig–zag course, turning the bow of the boat either side of the direction from which the wind is coming, in order to sail into the wind (also known as 'coming about' or 'beating to windward')			Tacking
Table tennis: Jamaican born player, grew up in Birmingham (England): 11 times English champion, peaked at equal World No. 7 and European No. 3; represented Great Britain at the 1988 Seoul Olympics, in both singles and doubles (partnered by Sky Andrew); played professionally in the West German Bundesliga for eight years, 1977–85; appointed MBE in 1987			Desmond Douglas
Three–day eventing: most wins at Badminton	Married name		Lucinda Green
	Birth surname		Prior–Palmer
Tug o'War: distance a team must pull the other to win			6 feet

The difference between running and walking is that in race walking ...

At least one foot must be in contact with the ground at all times

Weightlifting: lift dropped from international competition in 1972 owing to difficulties in judging (leaving the snatch and the clean & jerk)		Press
Wrestling: hold that aims to force a submission by twisting one or both of the opponent's arms behind his back		Nelson

© Haydn Thompson 2017–24